Assessment of expression of NF-κB-related genes in periodontitis

Abstract

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) is an important regulator of immune responses and is involved in the pathoetiology of periodontitis. We have measured levels of four NF-κB-related genes, namely CEBPA, CEBPA-DT, FBXL19-AS and DILC in blood and tissue samples of patients with chronic periodontitis compared with controls. Expression of CEBPA-DT was significantly lower in blood of patients compared with controls (Ratio of mean expression (RME) = 0.13, P value = 0.01). This pattern was also seen among male subgroups (RME = 0.10, P value = 0.01). FBXL19-AS was down-regulated in venous blood of total patients compared with controls (RME = 0.03, P value < 0.001) and in patients of both sexes compared with corresponding controls (RME = 0.03, P value < 0.001 and RME = 0.03, P value = 0.05 for females and males, respectively). Finally, DILC was down-regulated both in affected tissues and blood samples compared with control tissues and blood samples, respectively (RME = 0.39, P value = 0.01 and RME = 0.16, P value < 0.001). Expression of this lncRNA was also lower in blood samples obtained from female patients compared with female controls (RME = 0.12, P value < 0.001). DILC had the best performance among genes in distinguishing between affected and normal tissues (AUC = 0.65, sensitivity = 0.30 and specificity = 0.93). Moreover, FBXL19-AS and DILC could efficiently separate blood samples of patients from controls (AUC = 0.79, sensitivity = 0.98, specificity = 0.54 and AUC = 0.78, sensitivity = 0.80, specificity = 0.65, respectively). Combination of expression levels of all genes has resulted in AUC values of 0.62 and 0.79 for tissue and blood samples, respectively. The current study provides evidence for dysregulation of NF-κB pathway, particularly in the circulation of patients with periodontitis.